When temporary power outages occur homes and businesses lose power to run the many devices within the home or business, including, for example, furnaces, air conditioning units, kitchen appliances, and the like. When the temporary power outage lasts for more than a few minutes backup power supplies may be necessary to heat or cool the home or business. Currently available systems for backup power may include permanently installed fully automatic generators or portable generators. The portable generators may be manually connected to a building's sub-panel after the main power has been manually disconnected or alternatively may have devices and appliances plugged directly into the portable generator. Connecting a portable generator to a buildings sub-panel to provide power to, for example, a heating or cooling system may be difficult or impossible for the average user.